Hailey's First Month

And what a month it's been! Between sleep deprivation, spit ups, diaper duty (pun intended), breast feeding and lots lots lots of other learning experiences, Joe and I (and Hailey too I suppose) have survived Hailey's first month of life!

Joe took the first two weeks off of work to stay home and figure out this whole parenthood thing with me. Here's a little glimpse of how it went...

Morning Snuggles - A Man, His Baby and His iPad

Hailey's First Bath!!

Reading Books with Daddy

Tummy Time for Everyone!

Snuggle Monster

After two weeks flew by, Joe went back to work full time and I was flying solo at home with little Hailey. A moment I was fearing for a while... who knew something so small and adorable could be so intimidating? Thankfully I got the hang of things (relatively) as soon as Joe went back to work and everyday I learned how to do more and more at the same time as holding the baby and how to time chores and errands around the spontaneous moments she's sleeping. She really is a good baby a lot of the time though so I lucked out on that!

Morning Stroll Around the Park

 As for getting anything done around the house, I have to give a BIG thanks to whoever invented the Moby Wrap. Hard to tell from the picture, but Hailey tucks right into this loooong piece of fabric wrapped around me and she loves it! It's got to be the closest thing to being back in my tummy cause she's so snug tight against me. I love it too :)

Wearing Baby!

One thing I learned after 9 months of learning about pregnancy and getting ready for the oncoming labor,  is that no one ever truly warned/prepared me for the world of breastfeeding. Coming home recovering from labor, and dealing with ridiculous hormonal surges, I was suddenly expected to take on breastfeeding like I'd been doing it all my life and under all the pressure that baby girl's life literaly depended on it. OK, it didn't really because obviously there's formula but I really wanted to give breastfeeding every effort I could. Well, it certainly wasn't second nature, but after a lot of tears and lactation consultants and a very very patient and supportive husband we made it through the hardest first couple weeks and we are doing much better! So a word to any first time pregnant gals out there, it might not be easy but it gets better!!! And there is a ton of help out there to get the hang out it!

This is Hailey's "Milk Drunk" pose

When Hailey turned 10 days old it was officially our second wedding anniversary! To celebrate, we decided to make the hour long drive to Clos La Chance Winery and show Hailey where we were married. I made my way through about 1/5th of a wine tasting after 9 months of not drinking and I was done. But the tiny sips of wine I did have were glorious!

Second Wedding Anniversary

 And who could forget the fact that Football season has begun! And though both Mommy and Hailey MAY have fallen asleep for just about the entire game, we sure looked good doing it!

Mommy & Hailey Niner Fans!

Daddy/Daughter Game Time

 We're getting a lot of speculation that Hailey looks just like Joe, but I would like to note that this little girl has my fingers! Tiny as they may be,  I'm taking claim to those adorable digits :D

Mother/Daughter Hands!

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having dressing Hailey up? Which is a good thing, since the blow outs and spit ups can lead to around 2-3 costume changes a day...

Sailor Baby

On her one month birthday I attempted taking some pictures of our little angel who didn't exactly get the message that she was supposed to look angelic. This was what I ended up with...

So maybe not all smiles and sweetness just yet, but that's OK. I decided this one shot was the winner. It's her One Month birthday and she can cry if she wants to!

It should be noted that when this perfect little angel does decide to melt down, the go-to solutions are as follows:

1) Do squats while holding her. Kills your legs, but she loves it
2) Run the vacuum or hairdryer. Instant no-cry zone.
3) Put her in the stroller and get walking! The bumpier, the better so we often stroll over grass to calm her down
4) Drive! She totally zones out once the car is in motion. But do NOT stop. So this only works at non-rush hour times.

So that's it. One month done and we all survived! It may not have been a smooth ride, but what a journey! Can't wait to see what else this little girl has in store for us!!! We are SO in LOVE!

Our little girl with an attitude!

40 Weeks - Welcome Hailey May Givens!

As 40 weeks was approaching I was fully prepared to update another pregnancy post, but turns out I went into labor instead and our beautiful baby girl Hailey May Givens made her entrance into the world right on time, smack dab in the middle of her expected due date!

I woke up Friday morning (the day before she was due) right when Joe was getting up to go to work, and noticed something... different. Either I was peeing my pants or my water was breaking. I wasn't feeling contractions or anything, so I figured I was most likely peeing my pants, attributing it to just one more fabulous side effect of being extremely pregnant. So Joe went to work and I waiting until 8am to call the doctor's office and ask them about it. I made sure to shower and get my hair & makeup done just incase this was the real thing. Because I'm vain like that. 

Since I had my 40 week check up later that day anyways, I figured they'd tell me to sit tight and come in as scheduled.  Instead, they told me to pack up and go to labor & delivery... do not pass go, do not collect $200. SO, I called Joe and told him to wrap up work and get home to drive me to the hospital. He was a bit freaked at this point. 

The day before I went into labor

40 Weeks (minus one day) On our way out the door to head to the hospital!

I managed to capture this shot as Joe scrambled to get our last minute things packed into the car. He was a wreck :)

Once we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and found that I was in fact in labor. And I was having contractions every 3 minutes, although I wasn't feeling them. Once I heard that news, I may have gotten the notion that I was supermom and wouldn't feel the contractions. But I was wrong, oh so so wrong.

Just arrived to the hospital - feelin' good! (not for long)

By 6pm (about 12 hours after my water broke) the contractions were still every 3 minutes on schedule and stroooong! Strong enough that I was finally checked and wait for it... only ONE centimeter dilated. Bring on the tears. At this rate I wouldn't reach 10 centimeters until sometime next year.  In the mean time, the baby's heart rate would randomly drop, so I'd be flipped to my left or right side to change her position and fix her heart rate. I was also given an oxygen mask to help. Suddenly I was no longer joking and smiling through the contractions.

Snuggling up to a stuffed pig, which was almost torn apart at every contraction

A couple hours later I was to the point of ripping off Joe's face from my pain, so they checked again and I was now 1.5 centimeters. Yikes. Fortunately my doctor decided that even though I wasn't very dilated, I could get an epidural. HALLELUJAH! Well, that's what I thought. It took three tries and 9 hours until the epidural actually worked! But worked it did, and around 12noon on Saturday it was time to push. 

At 12:43pm Saturday August 17th, 2013 Hailey May Givens was born! 8lbs, 14.2 oz and 20" long (later corrected by the pediatrician to be 20.5") By no means a small baby, but certainly not the 10 pounder I was fearing!

Joe's cutting the cord 

First ever family photo!

Our beautiful screaming baby girl!

I love this shot

Daddy/Daughter Time!

Proud Cousin Trent holding Baby Hailey

Full head of hair! We'll see if it turns blond :)

My future UCLA Bruin (although Daddy may disagree)

We stayed at the hospital for 2 more days after Hailey was born and then we were sadly kicked out. Turns out, there's no nurse-call button when you get home with the baby.

On Our Way Home!!! Hailey's First Car Ride!

So now we're home and all three of us are doing well. Joe and I are fumbling our way through this whole parenthood thing (not an easy task when you're a bit sleep deprived) but we are head over heels in love with this little girl. There truly are no words to describe it, but we are most certainly blessed.